Maui: one usually thinks of beaches, right? Or at least ocean. Here are scenes that feature no ocean at all. The landscape variety covers an impressive range. All of these were taken by my husband, for whom the panoramic function of the Sony Cybershot has rekindled an interest in photography. And while I am rarely if ever featured in photos in my blog, here I am FOUR times! That's a record.

Two of these are meant to be vertical, but I think they are interesting horizontal as well. Doesn't the dirt with trees one look like a cross section of the earth's crust? In case you are inspired to experience these places, they are:

1. On the drive up/ down the volcano on Haleakala Hwy at sunset (beautiful praries!)
2. Ching's Pond, Hana Hwy (looks inviting for a swim)
3. Blowhole, Nakalele, West Maui (not blowing in this picture, but you can see the spattering of puddles around where it ought to be blowing - of course it's not going to blow while we have cameras ready - curiously, lots of crabs dwelling here, running in and out of the blow hole. Fantastic lava terrain, alien landscape!)
4. La Perouse Bay - south east part of Maui (also fantastic tide pools, and spinner dolphins/ sea turtles apparently in the morning, I missed out. This is an area of recent volcanic leakage)
5. Haleakala Crater (it's a big crater. Didn't walk very far into it, it was so big, the scenery didn't change much with every 50 yds)

6. and 7. Haleakala Hwy, near the summit, above the clouds!
The advantage of having a sprained ankle and postponing all my shoots this week is that I have a chance to catch up on photo editing, including personal pics which would have languished on my HD otherwise.

8. Honolua Bay (our B&B host described an unmarked dirt road alongside an old pineapple plantation leading to a path to the water, where we could spot sea turtles. Hard to photograph, as they were bobbing heads - anyways, here's a stretch of that shoreline)

Panoramics are often about horizons, so I think it is more fun when they are not. We have since graduated to more creative uses of the panoramic function, including diagonal or arcing panoramas. You can see that the camera struggled a bit to stitch together a smooth sea horizon in (8). And below, you can see what it does if you try to take a panorama while driving (I was NOT driving and panoramaing; the camera was held upside down on the passenger side, as the camera only panoramas from left to right - I know, think about it for a moment). I think this pic gives a bit of insight as to what the camera is trying to do when creating a panorama.